What if I just reduce calories?

Q: What's all the fuss about carbohydrates? What if I just reduce calories?

A: In one word, you'll be hungry Even if your will power is strong and you don't cheat, hunger signals your body to get those calories as soon as it suspects you are starving

Further, any low-calorie diet burns not only fat, but also muscle Reduced muscle mass causes your metabolism to slow down and the calorie reduction escalates, leading to malnutrition or to regaining all the lost weight — plus some

OK then, how about good old low fat diets?

Fat reduction can help if you don't have too many pounds to lose The glitch is, while any low-fat diet prevents fat depositing, it also makes fat burning nearly impossible

I'd also like to mention here that there was a trend of using low-fat diets to improve blood cholesterol and decrease the risk of cardio-vascular diseases, but recent clinical data questioned this approach

What's left is low carb diets and, I think, is your best option First -- and most important -- is that low-carb diets preserve muscle while burning the body's fat for fuel Second, low-carb diets don't make you hungry

To make it short, you get two major benefits when you cut down on carbohydrates that are difficult to get on other restriction diets:

1. You feel full on fewer calories
2. Your belly fat goes first and faster than on other types of diets

Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Beer is good for you - true or false?

The health benefits of beer

By Shawn McKee
eDiets

When you reach for an ice cold mug of suds on a hot summer day, you're not just quenching your thirst, you're doing something healthy for your body -- seriously!

What if your doctor prescribed you a medicine that could reduce strokes, heart and vascular disease, and the incidence of cataracts and breast cancer cells? You would take it every day, right? Well, you won't have to see your doctor for this remedy, but you may want to visit your favorite bartender.

It's fairly common knowledge that beer has a relaxing effect on the body and can reduce stress, but there are a myriad of other health benefits of this potent potable that are not as apparent at your local happy hour. There has never been better reasons to enjoy a cold one. So test your beer health IQ.

The Healthy, Happy Hour Beer Quiz:

True or false?

Beer is good for your heart.
True: A Dutch study conducted by TNO Nutrition and Food Research found that a known reference for predicting future cardiovascular disease, blood C-reactive protein (CRP), declined by 35 percent after three weeks of regular beer consumption compared with levels after three weeks of drinking non-alcoholic beer. The same study found that levels of HDL or "good" cholesterol rose by 11 percent during the same period. Beer also contains vitamin B6, which prevents the build-up of an amino acid called homocysteine that has been linked to heart disease.

Also, the Archives of Internal Medicine published an article confirming the benefits for women drinking alcohol. Data was collected from more than 70,000 nurses aged 25 to 42 whose health histories were tracked from 1989. Younger women who drink two or three alcoholic beverages a week have a lower risk of developing high blood pressure than women who do not drink alcohol. The women in the group who drank two or three alcoholic drinks a week had a 14 percent lower risk of developing high blood pressure than those who abstained.

Beer will reduce the chance of stroke.
True: One drink a day for women or up to two drinks a day for men will reduce your chances of strokes, heart and vascular disease. Strokes are the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. and the leading cause of serious, long-term disabilities. It is said that light to moderate drinkers will decrease their chances of suffering a stroke by 20 percent.

You should give your grandma a beer.
True: Don't load her up a beer bong yet or take her to"kill a keg" night at you local pub, but in moderation, beer has been proven to have positive effects on elderly people. It helps promote blood vessel dilation, sleep and urination.

Beer makes you funnier and more attractive to the opposite sex.
False: I'm sorry; beer won't make you funnier, although it will lower inhibitions and may make your bad jokes seem funnier to your inebriated amigos. In this state of lowered inhibitions,"beer-goggles" can take over and make that 4.5 at the end of the bar seem like an eleven. You'll see clearly in the morning. (Again, sorry.)

Beer is both fat-free and cholesterol-free.
True: Check the label. Nutritionally, a beer is similar to a can of soda in its calories and carbs, but can your cola curb cancer?

Beer is good for breasts.
True: Research by scientists at the Universidade do Porto in Portugal found that polyphenols in wine and beer appeared to decrease breast cancer cells significantly. Numerous other experiments have shown that certain polyphenols, mainly flavonoids, can protect against heart disease and have anticancer, antiviral and antiallergic properties. The Portuguese study concluded that xanthohumol, which is found in beer, was the most potent polyphenol over breast cancer cell growth; it showed its effect more rapidly and at a lower concentration than the others.

Beer could save the Three Blind Mice.
True: John Trevithick, Ph.D., and Maurice Hirst, Ph.D., of the University of Western Ontario, conducted a study that suggests beer reduced the incidence of cataracts in mice (but increased their propensity to"go wild" and get tattoos they'll regret later in life -- my own inference). If the same cataract protection occurs in humans, it would be especially beneficial to people with diabetes.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
Benjamin Franklin said it; it must be true.

Beer has many healthy benefits when enjoyed in moderation. One or two beers a day can keep you healthy, but don't overindulge or you'll watch your beer belly blossom. Drink responsibly. Cheers!

Shawn McKee graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Journalism and has written for The Broward and Miami New Times.

What is the 40-30-30 Nutrition Concept?

The 40-30-30 Nutrition Concept




The "Zone" is defined by Dr Barry Sears, the Zone Diet founder, as a metabolic state in which the human body operates at optimal efficiency. This metabolic state can be achieved by correct proportion of carbohydrates, fats, and protein in you every meal. The Zone Diet is a 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat program developed to insure the proper the insulin to glucagon ratio. Why?

Any food that you eat works for or against the two major hormones, insulin and glucagon. These hormones do a lot of important work but perhaps the most important is maintaining energy flow in the body. Their intrplay determins whether the body sotres or spends (burn) calories but there's much more to the diet's benefits.

The 40-30-30 equilibrium results in a decrease of insulin-glucagon ratio, which in its turn causes production of ""good"" superhormones eicosanoids. According to the Zone theory, eicosanoids are responsible for the diet's health benefits including weight loss, prevention of chronic diseases and inflammation, enhanced immunity, better physical performance and mental health, and greater longevity.

Sources:

Sears B: "The Zone." New York: Harper Collins,1995
Sears B: "Mastering the Zone." New York: Harper Collins,1997

How to Get into the Zone

The 40 30 30 diet looks rather simple: eat meals that are 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat -- and voila! -- you're in the Zone! In reality, it's not that simple. Should one get information on how many carb, protein, and fat grams is in every piece of food and then calculate whether or not its a 40-30-30 food? Can a normal person keep doing this day in and day out? Maybe not. There's the Eyeball Method instead.

1. 30% protein: your plam.

Eat lean meats, poultry, fish, egg whites, or low-fat diary in every meal. The portion should be of the size of your palm.

2. 30% fat: your thumb.

Have fats, better oils, added to every meal; the portion size should be approximately as big the tip of your thumb.

3. 40% carb: one or two handfuls.

Every meal, you have a choice of one fruit portion the size of one handful or two vegetable portions (two handfuls) becaused fruits are more carbohydrate-dense foods.

How many meals a day?

Q: I am aware of the requiremnets to eat 6 small meals but some days it is a real struggle to eat 3 meals per day.

A: There's very little scientific evidence supporting the "6 small meals" idea. Yes, it does work -- but not for everyone and in no ways is it natural for human beings. First, it works mostly for those on carbohydrate-based diets because these diets need to be hunger-controlled. Your problem is just opposite, right? Then, you might well benefit from the currently gaining recognition "a meal a day" paradigm. In fact, for the lay dieter, it started with The Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler.

Let me explain. It's known for a long time that calorie restriction has great health benefits including longevity, however, it's not only hard to stay on any restrictive diet for the rest of your life but even in experimental animals having no choice, hunger sabotaged some of the health benefits. On the other hand, mice fed every other day had profound health effects which exceeded those seen in mice fed 40% less than normal every day. Analyzing the Ramadan fast practices, researchers came to the conclusion that what they named it, Intermittent Fasting, can be THE answer for people dieters as well.

I'm telling this to you so you wouldn't be worried too much about both eating too little and about not eating often enough.

Read more about meal planning - click here
Part 2
Part 3

The Skipping Breakfasts plan of the Banta Diet explain one of the meal frequency aspects.

Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Should one eat protein and carbohydrate after exercise?

Q: I’ve been reading a book called Body-for-LIFE and it says that taking a supplement after exercise slows fat burning. But I've also read that taking a supplement after exercise helps with muscular recovery. What should I do?

A: Body-for-LIFE is a decent program and there's some good training and nutrition advice in there. There are also some rather odd ideas... and the one that you shouldn't eat protein and carbohydrate immediately after exercise is one of them...

Christian Finn
The Facts About Fitness

The rest of this report is available in the Members-Only Area.

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Q&A: Negative Calorie and Rotation Diets

Q: I lost a lot of weight by eating a lot of watermelon. I researched the phenomenon and found the Negative Calorie Food list. Regardless of whether or not you advocate the diet, should it work for me still, even though I quit smoking and my metabolism/pancreas/insulin is all out of whack? I am frustrated with low carb high protein and fat and really miss my fruits but am scared to death to eat them for fear of gaining weight, which has, in the past made me clinically depressed which I take Wellbutrin for. Physiologically, has anything changed that should make my body react differently to this diet than it did when I was a smoker?

A: Nicotine's appetite-reducing effect is associated with increased serotonin levels in the brain center controlling hunger. Overeating and weight gain after smoking cessation is accompanied by decreased concentrations of this natural chemical. This is about your weight gain.

Now, regarding the watermelon matter. I do support the 'negative calorie' approach though, maybe, for a different reason than the popular believe is. In two words, it's all about 'calorie density' and not about foods that take for their digestion more than they can being in.There's no such foods. However, low calorie density approach do work because believe it or not, our bodies judge when we should stop the meal by it's volume and not by counting calories so ounce for ounce, the lower calorie density the less calories we eat to feel full.

As to your problem with fruits while on a low carb diet, I could suggest the 'rotation' approach.

Reading:

Low-Fat Low-Carb Negative Calorie Rotation Diet
Calorie density

Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Q&A: Food combining - Sleepy after lunch

Q: I have to starve myself to stay thin, the minute I eat I start to put on weight fast. Can wrong food combining be the reason?

A: I don't think that your problem can be food combining mistakes. You probably need to eat more not less, but just right foods foods. Take a look at our online plan at Banta Diet - it'll cost you nothing - and then ask me any further questions.


Q: After I eat lunch I struggle to stay awake, I get so tired. I get my eight hours of sleep each night so I shouldn't be so tired. Is there something I can eat at lunch that will help me get through the rest of the afternoon?

A: Usually, the reason for being sleepy after lunch is carbohydrate overeating. Keeping your carbs down until you are READY to be sleepy helped a lot of people in my experience. Feedback like this is a common comment on our Banta Diet:

"Craving between meals almost none existent, I have more energy." - Sally (lost 3 pounds and 1 inch in one week)

Even if you don't wish to follow this plan exactly, read the theory behind - and if you have further questions, I'm always here to help!

Tanya Zilberter, PhD